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Since 1993, the Czech Republic is one of the two daughter states of the former Czechoslovakia (the other is Slovakia to the east). The Czech Republic lies in the very heart of Europe and its capital Prague has become an important tourist destination. If you want to progress quickly from the basics to understanding, speaking and writing Czech with confidence then 'Teach Yourself Czech', using a book/CD combination, is the course for you. Although aimed at those with no previous knowledge, it is equally suitable for anyone wishing to brush up existing knowledge for a holiday or business trip. Key structures and vocabulary are introduced in 20 thematic units progressing from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations to talking about the past and making a complaint. You will become familiar with many aspects of life in the Czech Republic as well as the language. The emphasis is on communication throughout with important language structures introduced through two dialogues in each unit. These build up to give you a command of many essential phrases and, especially in the earlier units, much of the basic language you will need on first arriving in the Czech Republic. There are plenty of exercises to practise the language as it is introduced and tips throughout to help with grammar. The new edition retains the tried-and-tested structure of the lessons but has been updated. The new page design makes the book more attractive and user-friendly for the self-access learner. New features in this edition include: - an English-Czech vocabulary, - a glossary of grammatical terms, - new artwork, - a taking it further section directing you to further sources of real Czech.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Short has taught Czech and Slovak in London since 1973 and is a founder member of the North-American (now International) Association of Teachers of Czech. He has also examined in Czech for a wide range of institutions, including other British universities and a period of involvement in the Czech A-level examination, before it was scrapped. He publishes widely on Czech and Slovak topics, with many items brought together in a volume of Essays in Czech and Slovak Language and Literature (1996), and he is pleased to have had some involvement in prize-winning dictionaries of Czech idioms (1983, 1988, 1994). He is also an active reviewer, freelance translator (including some literary and scholarly works) and interpreter (chiefly for asylum-seekers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia). His other published books include the bibliography Czechoslovakia (1986), its updated revision Czech Republic (with Vlaika Edmondson, 2000), and Customs and Etiquette in the Czech Republic (1996), and he is the author of the descriptive outline grammars of Czech and Slovak included in Bernard Comrie & Greville G. Corbett (eds): The Slavonic Languages (1993).
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

We will be spending one week in Prague this fall, so thought it would be helpful to know some basics of the language. This product is way over-kill for our purposes, although it might be good for someone who will be there for an extended period of time.

We ended up ordering a phrase book instead--seems to be more fitting for what we need.

I'm surprised by so many negative reviews for this book. Much of it sounds like frustration from learning Czech generally or the book not exactly matching what you expected. I've lived in Prague since 2003 and have read just about ever Czech language book on the market and I think Teach Yourself Czech is one of the best. It's somewhere between a phrasebook and reading lessons with the grammar learning implicit, at least as much as possible. The biggest problem I have with Czech language books is that they give you a list of vocabulary and then some grammar and declination rules and then a bunch of drills and they expect you to use it in conversation. It takes a very long time and lot's of practice. To form a relatively complicated sentence requires to know at least 2 or 3 or more cases and it's difficult to combine them fluently in a sentence, In Teach Yourself Czech, that's already done for you and you remember the entire phrase and not just vocab lists, and your fluency increases rapidly because you aren't trying to remember 3 different case and gender endings, you just repeat the phrases as it's listed. This book is intended for more than just being a tourist, for that I'd recommend a basic phrase book, in Prague most people speak some English. I bought the Berlizt tape with phrase book and found it very useful for basic travel and it has the same methodology of using whole phrases. Then I'd recommend moving to Teach Yourself Czech and the Lida Hola book mentioned by other. I'm still reserving my 5 star rating for the perfect Czech textbook. Something like Raymond Murphy's Essential Grammar in Use but for learners of Czech instead of English. As a language teacher living in Prague, you can't do much better than teach yourself Czech for a basic conversational fluency.

Czech is a difficult language. The last thing a learner needs is a poorly-constructed, badly formatted book which throws things at you in a totally random order filled with tangential notes and comments. I'm guessing that Czech speakers were extremely hard to find in 1959, and the publishers just found the best author they could.

This book isn't a bargain at any price. Buy a more recent course instead.

I bought this today at the local bookstore and returned it within a few hours. We are moving to the Czech Republic so I have to learn Czech, but this course is awful! The lessons are not structured very well and I do not like the way it is recorded between the narrator and the Czech speaker. I don't think the way they do the conversations is very helpful either. I am sure I could learn something eventually, but it would require a lot of extra effort pouring through the book and repeating the conversations too many times to get anything useful.